Some new players to the Isle of Darkness LARP get lost immediately in the plot. So I think a small Primer is in Order for you all.

What is the Kent Requiem Larp?

The Kent Requiem is a Monthly LARP (Live-Action Role Play) set in the World of Darkness where 15 – 25 people per month turn up to Keynes on campus on the last Sunday of the month to play characters in a gripping and amazing setting based on “Vampire: the Requiem”, high on Action, Mystery and Intrigue.

What If I have never played a World of Darkness (WoD) game?

Shame on you :P, but personally I had never played a WoD game before I LARPed; I did dig into the rule books however, but the Guys and Girls that play are all friendly and will help you on practically anything. ^_^

What do I need to bring?

For your first game, just yourself and a Character Idea, you can create a character sheet before the game, but if you prefer to roleplay your encounters into the World of Darkness you can do so.

So a Character?

You Create a Character like normal from Vampire the Requiem (the book is in the library) and anyone can give you a hand with it, for more help look here.

Your First game is also free so come and have a go. It will help with your roleplaying skills (It’s a £1 per game otherwise: including Membership it works out to £2.50 a month and we provide snacks so it’s not all bad ^_^)

On this link you will find lots of information on the players and characters in the Campaign including rumors about us all and brief biographies. Ignore the Kindred Timeline link; it is a mess and not relevant.

Secondly there is a Yahoo Groups page where in-game news is released, official IC discussions are held and we discuss about how screwed we are because of what has happened.

A Hunter Cell that posed a large threat to the Kindred of Kent was identified, which began covert operations against individuals within the court. After investigating the location of their safe house, Dakyrias Flint launched a raid against their base of operations. The Hunters were heavily armed and well defended, but the Kindred managed to kill all but one of their number, who fled into the night. He was later captured and executed without incident. Among the Hunters’ possessions was a video tape, with detailed information about Vampires and their abilities. No-one knows who made this video and very few clues were found in the following investigation

The Mannering incident

Mr. Mannering, a Local Crime Lord, had come to the attention of the Kindred of Kent. He and his subordinates had attacked prominent figures of the Carthian Government to varying degrees of success and Mr. Dakyrias Flint had slowly infiltrated the group and at the end of October launched an attack with the help of the court. Mr. Flint’s plan unfortunately failed and he was put into torpor within seconds of the fight, as the remainder of the kindred fought to kill all the members of Mr. Mannering’s group. Nexus went into a frenzy turning on her own kind, in the midst of this chaos one member of Mr. Mannering’s group escaped at the end of the operation. Mr. Mannering was not present and his identity still remains a mystery.

Local News reports release information about the death of Mr. Mannering in a car crash on the A2 and that Mr. Dakyrias Flint’s real world contacts were to blame (He has his own criminal empire). Mr. Mannering’s body was recovered and found to be a fake and Dakyrias’s criminal empire crumbled as his associates were arrested. Dakyrias faked his own death and returns as Martin, before leaving the court for 4 months, leaving the court without a Sheriff.

Rumors suggest that Mr. Mannering has joined the ranks of the undead and with his attacks on prominent members of the government of Kent seemed to have dangerous Intel on us all.

The Crazy Nos

The Kindred of Kent have had a lot of dealings with Crazed Nosferatu of late, killing Alder Masque’s (played by Ian Warner) Sire.

More recently (and importantly) another group of Kindred led by Richard Le Jean set out to deal with the prepubescent childe of a crazed Nosferatu Elder. The young girl faced final death when it proved difficult to control them both, her Sire however escaped. A Hunt was called and due to the targets slipperiness, a number of members of other courts from London and Essex joined. However, the target of the hunt escaped, although his lair was uncovered.

Politics, Politics, Politics

In November, A meeting was called by Jack Hawkins to assess the state of the Carthian Experiment, after an attempt to examine the organization of the domain failed. This was due to the important issue of the rights of those Kindred who resided in Canterbury was brought up.

After the meeting Jack Hawkins had a long discussion with Zachary Box and proceeded to dissolve the Council of Kent. He claimed Praxis following the failures he perceived of the Council and the Laws of Kent, Jack gave himself the title of “Lord Protector” and promised to introduce a new system of government by April.

In January a form of government was agreed upon, where each covenant selects by its own means someone to represent it on a council, who then select a sheriff and a seneschal, with whom executive power is rested. Jack agreed to step down once the system was up and running, in one month.

In February Jack stepped down to the recently formed Council of Kent. The Council declared that Canterbury was its own state shortly after Zachary Box was declared Prince by Archbishop Hollway, the former Prince of Canterbury.

Belial’s brood

A church in Maidstone is desecrated in a ritual murder, prompting investigation by several members of the court in to the strange and sinister incident. This investigation turned up clues to certain artifacts related to the brood, scattered over churches and private collections throughout Kent.

The Mysterious Unaligned

In February, a group of three unaligned Kindred hosted a party for the Kindred of Kent; hailing from America they held three competitions with mystical prizes and boons. Over the course of the next month they are seen to collect boons from a vast majority of Kindred and many are suspicious of their motives.

National Plot

The Strix

(A report by Alex Fuller)

The strix were believed defeated after the national gathering of kindred at prince Eve’s court. At least, I thought them defeated. However, there are still strix out there.

A Nos named Tobias wax was possessed by the strix, and was in possession of two nightmare or homunculus werewolves. Incredibly dangerous and powerful beasts, from reports. Such beasts have been seen in the presence of members of belial’s brood. Wax was killed, but took three kindred with him, and the strix inhabiting his body are still out there.

There might be a connection between the strix and belial’s brood, although this is just speculation.

VII

(A report by Alex Fuller)

French invites were attacked on a train by ten kindred, seen in a vision. After killing everyone who got in their way and their target – the French Invictus – (Editors note: The Invictus briefly visited Kent, due to their arrival in Dover) nine of the members of the attack party left whilst the tenth blew up the train. Investigation using Auspex powers disclosed only the Roman numeral VII. The French Invictus were killed outright. The incident was then covered up.

Worms

Someone or something has been infecting humans with a worm that is attracted to kindred blood; after feeding on the individual, the worm enters the kindred’s body and grows to tremendous size, to that of a land eel. It then explosively leaves the Kindred’s body and can use a vast array of powers to assault those nearby; reports are that this is some sort of biowarfare on Vampires as a whole.

End

So there we go lots and lots of Plot for you to grab your juicy hooks into, you don’t need to learn the above but it is a nice reference if you get lost.

If you’re interested don’t hesitate to come and talk to me or any of the other players and come and give it a go :)

P.S. if you’re interested I play Eddie Valentine.[So Join the Invictus (I'm in charge)]